Into The Frey - Part One
by LettersToThePoet25
Summary: (Rated T to be safe, may be changed in the future) Alfred always wanted to be a hunter in order to avenge his parents, but will he learn to forgive and forget? (crappy summary, more information in first "chapter"!)
1. Warnings n' Stuff

Hey guys! Before you read on this will be the more formal warning/information section, the actual story begins in the second chapter so go read that if you don't care about this or the prologue, but I advise you read this and the prologue to fully understand what's going on okay? Awesome.

So because this story is currently "in the works" things may change such as:

My writing style

Character personalities

Pairings

Definitions

So this story is being made up as I go, it does have a small plot but it's more ideas in my head rather than "This is happening and then this is" ect. So I have to excuse myself right now if things seem a little choppy, I plan on going back and fixing mistakes when I finish the story!

This is planned to be a AmeCan (no they are NOT brothers in this book, I have my reasons for this ship and incest is not one of these reasons, so no one write up bitch mail saying "Oh you're gross bla bla bla") but this may be changed to gain more views, I want this book to gain some nice views, so I might write up a AmeCan version and upload it later.

Okay so this story is staged in Medieval Britain, the main town Churchill is made up, I have no idea if it actually exists so this is NOT placed in the real town /city/village so excuse me if you think i'm aiming this story at someone or anything (shrug)

Uh, now for warnings.

I said before this might turn into a AmeCan (Still gonna do the separate story thing) but I'm avoiding sexual themes so this can stay rated T, the AmeCan version will most likely be a M rated story, this one may refer to sexual themes but will never have those scenes within.

There will be swearing, fighting, (maybe) self harm (this isn't always physical, you can verbally self harm yourself too, it's just like body shaming yourself when you look in the mirror or whatever), and "blood" scenes, meaning that there are descriptions of blood.

Hey, these warnings do seem a little pointless but I don't want people bitching at me xD sorry!

I suck at everything so this book might go without updates for a long time before I go on a writing rampage and make like a thousand chapters then disappear for a long time, I don't ever forget about my books I just usually give up or take five months to update (aha)

Okay! That should be it, go off and read birdies!


	2. Prologue

They often say that the greedy man is often gone without punishment, this can be proven true for many, the great kings and queens frequently got what they wanted through sly movements, the knights will kill for fame, the pretty princesses tend to get everything that they desire. In all of these incenses, no one bats an eye and it is seen as the norm, but not for the poor hunters of Churchill.

Centuries ago, just as settlers moved into the township Churchill and the surrounding area, a great awakening began, the forest finally came to life with mythical creatures that could be referred to as "guardians," but it is said that they call themselves no more than the simple peace keeper for the animals of their beloved forest. As the settlers began to hunt for food, the guardians began to watch with a vigilant eye, because if the hunters began to take more than they needed, they would strike without mercy.

The guardians began to trick the greedy hunters, turning themselves into animals of the forest to allow themselves to be taken down, only to get up and strike back fiercely. The hunters who survived often returned to Churchill to spread the news of these beings, at first the township grew angry with the guardians and began an attack, but quickly learnt that their actions were futile, they quickly figured out why they had been attacked in the first place and began to limit their hunts to once a week, making sure not to hunt more than what they needed.

Centuries went by, the people of Churchill still only hunted once a week in order to keep the peace with the guardians, who they had grown to study more and more, they managed to figure out all three types of guardians that lurked in Churchill's forest:

Shape Shifters (3 sub categories)

Fighters

Elementals

The three all had different roles among the forest, the shape shifters had three main categories:

Elm Shifters, which can change into any hooved animal such as deer and moose.

Dala Shifters, which can change into birds, such as crows and any other residential bird.

Villa Shifters, which can change into small rodents such as squirrels and raccoon's.

The rarest kind are the Elm Shifters, they can easily be over hunted and killed if they haven't gone through proper training, at least that's what the people of Churchill believed.

The fighters often appeared as humanoid creatures that carried weapons to harm any hunters, these guardians were the most aggressive among the three other kinds, they would kill without a second thought, even if a hunter hadn't killed more than he needed they still might be killed by a fighter, though in the recent years the fighters have become more docile.

And finally, the elementals, they are seen as the wise ones which are able to weld a power, unique to each elemental , these guardians come in the thousands but are increasingly difficult to find, so the people of Churchill only have a limited amount of information on these guardians.

With the time ticking, more and more hunters begin to call quits on hunting once a week and start to hunt every day, usually killing off more than what they need. The guardians begin to stir again…

It's time to end this.


	3. Chapter 1 - The Fawn

Alfred sighed, watching as Arthur tacked up his horse, this is how it always went, the boy was left to sit alone while Arthur left to hunt.

"Can't I come with you this time?" He begged, latching onto the older boy's cape with wide blue eyes. Arthur sighed as he turned to Alfred.

"You know I can't Alfred, you're still too young to hunt with me…" Arthur said as he shot a small smile at the boy before him, Alfred's pout only grew into a frustrated frown.

"No! Ten is old enough! William is already hunting and he's only a year older than me!" Alfred yelled, balling his hands into small fists as he glared at the ground, why couldn't Arthur see that he was old enough? All the other boys his age were hunting by now, he should be too!

"Ah, yes but William's father is a excellent hunter, I bet he taught Will how to hunt when he was just a little thing, you on the other hand? Your father never taught you a thing before he left, and I have no time to teach you yet." Arthur said, crouching down before Alfred with a sad smile.

"I promise, i'll start training you by next year okay?" He whispered, moving to gently take Alfred's hands in his own, Alfred just pulled away and stomped off.

"This isn't fair! I'm old enough than, right? So teach me!" He cried before the started running off, tears in his eyes. Arthur just sighed as he mounted his horse and made his way to the forest, maybe he'd take down a deer, that seemed to always cheer Alfred up on a bad day.

Alfred had hidden away in his bedroom, curled up in the corner to try and make himself smaller, maybe if he got small enough he'd disappear, just like his parents...it was true, Alfred was an orphan, both of his parents disappeared when he turned seven, some say they ran off and others said they were killed by a guardian, most believed that they were killed, this only drove hate into Alfred's soul, he wanted to hunt the guardian's, not the animals.

Arthur was currently his caretaker, he had been a family friend but was only around fifteen years old, his own parents died when he was young so he felt the need to take care of Alfred, the boy had no problems with Arthur being his caretaker but he did get upset with him more than necessary, especially when it came to the hunting issue.

Alfred sighed bitterly as he stood up, glaring at the ground again before he looked up, smirking.

"Fine! If Arthur won't teach me, than i'll teach myself." He said, quickly running off and out towards the forest, Alfred was sure he could do this, he was good at everything he had tried! This couldn't be any different, except for the fact that he realised he had forgotten to grab a weapon once he was halfway into the forest.

"Ugh...great." He muttered, letting out a heavy sigh before he turned around to make his way back, though he blinked when he saw a small fawn, quietly following behind.

"Oh, hey little guy, are you lost?" Alfred asked with a small grin, looking around slowly before it dawned on him.

"I think I am too…" He mumbled, sighing as he looked back at the fawn. He made a huge mistake, he never marked his way in so now he couldn't get out.

"I bet your mommy is looking for you, why don't you go find her?" He asked, smiling at the fawn, it staggered closer to Alfred before looking up at him, the boy was left in awe at the sight of the fawn, it was one of the prettiest he had seen, at least in the flesh, he had never seen a fawn before other than in books.

"Do you want me to help you?" He suggested, slowly reaching forward to pet the little fawn, but it quickly ran off through the trees.

Alfred pouted before he moved to follow the deer quickly.

"Hey wait! No let me help!" He cried, panting as he frantically looked for the fawn, but stopped once he was met with an odd scene.

"H-Hey...where did you come from?" He said quietly, looking the small boy over quickly.

"Where? You saw me, I was the baby deer!" He exclaimed, grinning widely at Alfred.

"Do you want help out of the forest? I can show you where to go." He said, moving to lean against a tree.

"Y-You? You're that fawn? No way…unless if you're-"

"A shape shifter? Yep! I'm what you guys call a Guardian I guess, i'm an Elm Shifter, i've been practicing and I just happened to stumble across you!" The boy said happily, his violet eyes gleaming happily.

"Aren't you supposed to be going after hunters?" Alfred scoffed, crossing his arms as he looked the guardian over a few times, he didn't look like one…

"Nah, i'm too young still, I have to practice before I can go out and work, so no need to worry about me!" He said with a small laugh, reaching forward to take Alfred's hand.

"Come on, i'll show you out, oh! And my name is Matthew." The boy said with another smile, Alfred just grinned back lazily.

"Okay...if you say so, and i'm Alfred." He said as he followed Matthew happily, maybe this wasn't so bad…

Matthew led Alfred to the edge of the forest, he looked at the town and sighed softly.

"The hunters are so mean...they've started to hunt more innocent animals you know? Last week one of the shape shifters got killed" Matthew mumbled as he let Alfred's hand go.

"Well, isn't that their own fault? You don't go out when the hunters go out…" Alfred said with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pockets, frowning when he felt Matthew glare at him.

"I bet you're just like them, aren't you? Fine, guess I shouldn't have helped you." He muttered bitterly before turning away, shifting back into a fawn before he ran off, Alfred frowned as he watched Matthew leave, what got his tail all tied up? Whatever, Alfred started on home, thinking the situation over to try and find where he had gone wrong, and then it finally hit him…

The guardians were just like humans, if one gets killed it's back lashed through everyone else, all they're doing is trying to save the forest animals from dying out.

That still didn't change the fact that Alfred wanted to hunt the guardians, maybe he'd just go after the fighters? They went for innocent people too! Sure that's how he'd work everything out, it was perfect…

almost.


	4. Chapter 2 - Bow & Arrow

((Hey guys! It's been about a month now xD I had chapter two written up but I can't find it so now to write up a brand new chapter! Enjoy~ If you see any spelling/grammar mistakes please tell me _kindly_ in a review or message, I can't take harsh criticism so if you come off as rude I tend to shy away aha))

As each day passed, the young blonde would always stand outside to just stare out into the forest, a grin on his face as he waited for Matthew to return, but the years went by and Alfred's smile soon turned into a look of despair. Was Matthew just a dream? Maybe so...Even if he was, Alfred knew that the Guardians existed, he never needed a Shapeshifter to validate that!

As time went on Alfred grew, along with his hunger to kill that could only be satisfied with the taste of the bitter-sweet blood that had always covered his face after a successful kill, he had grown into quite the exceptional hunter, without the help of Arthur. In fact, Arthur only grew farther apart with Alfred as they grew older, feeling as though he had become more useless rather than helpful.

"Arthur." Alfred muttered, roughly shaking the man from his bed. Alfred stood before him all bundled up in his hunting gear with was accompanied by his bow and quiver, full of sharpened arrows for this next hunt.

"What do you want Alfred? And isn't it too early to be waking me?" Arthur groaned, slowly sitting up as he rubbed his face tiredly before he turned to look at the bouncy eighteen year old, who had easily outgrown him by the age of sixteen, Arthur was always envious.

"I wanted to know if you were coming to hunt with me still…" Alfred mumbled, his smile turning into a frown as he realised that there was no way Arthur was coming, he looked like a soggy sack of potatoes.

"No Al, just...go on your own like usual okay? Go get us a nice big buck." Arthur mumbled, sighing heavily as he watched Alfred give him a pitiful look. God he wished he could go just to keep the boy happy but he would just make things go by agonizingly slow.

"Ah...Alright Arthur, sleep than." Alfred mumbled softly, his blue eyes going dark from disappointment before he left the room without another word, not bothering to hear what else Arthur had to say to him.

Alfred went to the stables first, he had built it a few years ago with Arthur after they had decided getting horses was a suitable fit for "active" hunters like them, although Arthur didn't seem to fit the name "active" anymore. Alfred stood before a black warmblood stallion, who easily outmatched Alfred in the game of "Whose the tallest?" Alfred let the horse out from his stall and led him out to be groomed and tacked up before he mounted the mighty steed who snorted out once the extra weight was put on his back.

"Easy boy…" Alfred said in a low voice, patting the horse's neck before riding off towards the forest at a gallop.

The pair slowed once they were at the forest's edge, Alfred knew where to go from here but he knew there was a possibility of running, and his stallion came in handy at that point, so he rode on quietly, making sure he and his horse were well out of harm's way, the last thing he needed was to run into a Fighter with his horse, the stallion had never seen a Guardian before and he knew the horse would spook the moment a Fighter would lunge for them.

After what seemed to be a hour or so, Alfred came to a clearing that he knew well, he often hunted here for deer when they were our grazing and luckily for him there was a large herd out in the clearing with plenty of bucks to go around.

The blonde sat back in the saddle as he looked through the herd, trying the find the best deer to take down. It couldn't be too weak and it had to be at least built at an average size, he knew that he could sell the fur pelt for lots of money, especially if it was more than usual. Of course some things couldn't be perfect, with this large herd and excess of bucks, most were smaller, only just growing into their first mature pair of antlers, built for fighting. Alfred let out a desperate sigh as he continued to look around, there had to be one out there that he could take down.

Finally, he saw it.

A more mature looking buck who seemed to be a perfect fit for what Alfred needed. He started to get giddy before he rose his bow, taking an arrow out from the leather quiver behind him and lined his shot up with the buck, aiming straight for his chest, a quick take down would make his job a lot easier.

 _Inhale….Exhale….Shoot._

The herd scattered the moment the arrow hit the buck, all of the deer who hadn't gotten hit ran for their lives, the buck who had gotten hit tried to run after buck was quickly brought to the ground, letting out a god awful noise that Alfred had heard one too many times before, but each time he grew more exhilarated.

He quickly rode to the buck and pulled a line of rope from his pack on the saddle, dismounting to stand beside the suffering buck. Why hadn't it died yet? Did Alfred miss his target? He looked at the arrow to make sure, which only made him more confused.

"It's a perfect hit….why are you still breathing?" He asked the buck, looking at it's face with a frown. The buck fidgeted before letting out another agonizing noise, it's eyes fixed on Alfred, the stallion nickered lowly and started to back away, Alfred only reached to grab his reins to keep him steady.

"It's fine boy, just a deer." He said, trying to calm the horse before turning again to something he hadn't quite expected…

There was blood, so much blood...and instead of a buck..

"W-Why?" He croaked in a raspy voice, violet eyes piercing Alfred's blue pools.


End file.
